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Bug (2006 film)
Encyclopedia
Bug is a 2006 American horror
/thriller directed by William Friedkin
, and starring Ashley Judd
, Michael Shannon
and Harry Connick, Jr.
.
The film is based on the play of the same name
written by Tracy Letts
.
. Unable to move on from the disappearance of her son some years previously, she engages in drug and alcohol binges with her lesbian friend, R.C. (Lynn Collins
). Her abusive
ex-husband, Jerry Goss (Connick), has recently been released from prison and she is receiving silent telephone calls which she suspects are from him. R.C. introduces Agnes to Peter Evans (Shannon), a drifter who says he is a recently discharged soldier. Agnes and Peter reach out to each other out of loneliness, and start a relationship.
The line between reality and delusion is blurred as they discover a bug infestation.
Peter is, in fact, mentally ill
, and believes he was the subject of biological tests by the U.S. government while he was in the military. He starts to draw Agnes into his delusions, persuading her that the silent telephone calls are the government trying to track him down and when he starts seeing bugs in the motel room, Agnes says that she can see them too. Jerry arrives at the motel and attempts to throw Peter out and restart his relationship with Agnes, but Peter persuades Agnes that Jerry is working for the government and she rejects him. Agnes also rejects R.C. when her friend tries to warn her away from Peter.
Peter comes to believe that a nest of bugs has been implanted under one of his teeth, so he pulls it out. He fills the room with flypaper and bug zappers and his movements become increasingly twitchy as he slaps at invisible bugs, as does Agnes.
A Dr. Sweet arrives, saying that Peter has escaped while under treatment at a mental institution, and tries to persuade him to return. Peter kills Sweet but tells Agnes that he was a robot sent by the government. Agnes is drawn ever deeper into Peter's delusions and creates her own delusion that her son had been taken from her by the government so that she and Peter could meet; she comes to believe that she has been implanted with a queen bug intended to mate with Peter's bugs and infest the world. To prevent this, Agnes and Peter douse themselves in gasoline and set themselves on fire.
During the credits, the spectator can see first the toys of Agnes's son, and the body of Sweet in a not burned house: a possible interpretation is that the suicide of the two mains characters by the fire was only a hallucination.
, the production designer of films such as Hostel (2005) and Rocky Balboa
(2006).
Most of the film's action occurs in a seedy motel room. The scenario has three interconnected rooms — a bathroom, a kitchenette
and a living room. At one point in the film, the room has several dozen fly strips
hanging from the ceiling. At another point the entire room is covered from floor to ceiling in tinfoil. Friedkin has said the tinfoil was a nightmare to work with, because it had to be repaired constantly, and because it reflected everybody who was there, including the crew.
, California
, and at Grace King High School
while studio interiors of the motel room were filmed on a soundstage in Metairie
, Louisiana
, near New Orleans. A grocery store scene was shot at Migliore’s Grocery, and the lesbian bar scene was shot at Boomerang’s Bar, both located in New Sarpy
, Louisiana.
The film was scored by Brian Tyler
and the musical direction/supervision is by Jay Faires
. The score was released as digital download on May 22, 2007.
Soundtrack
The film's theme song is performed by Serj Tankian
, the lead singer of the rock band
System of a Down
. The lead track, "Learning to Drive
", is performed by Scott Weiland
, the lead singer of the rock band Stone Temple Pilots
.
Additional artists are Sean
and Sara Watkins
(of Nickel Creek
), Chainsaw Kittens
, The Backsliders
, Susan Tedeschi
, Jerry Leiber, and The Coasters
, Alvin Robinson, Los Tigres del Norte
, Leon Russell
and Brian Tyler
.
The soundtrack was released in stores on May 22, 2007.
It made its world premiere in May 2006 in France
in the Directors' Fortnight
section at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival
. On May 22, 2006, film critic Roger Ebert
wrote, "The film has caused a stir at Cannes, not least because its stars, Ashley Judd and Michael Shannon, achieve a kind of manic intensity that’s frightening not just in itself but because you fear for the actors."
The film received its U.S. premiere at Fantastic Fest
on September 25, 2006, in Austin
, Texas
. It opened in the U.S. at 1,661 theaters on May 25, 2007. In its opening weekend it earned $3.24 million, and ranked as number four, of the most-seen films of the weekend, placed behind the threequels Pirates of the Caribbean 3, Shrek 3
and Spider-Man 3
.
It was released to theaters in France on February 21, 2007. It drew praise from most critics in France, but did not reach the top in the box office. In its opening week in France, it ranked as number twenty of the most-visited films of the week, and earned $216,244 from sixty-six screens.
It received a very limited United Kingdom
release on November 9, 2007. The film received generally positive reviews from the U.K. media, receiving three out of five in The Guardian
. It was also critic Mark Kermode
's film of the week on BBC Radio 5 Live
.
As of June 8, the film was in 331 theaters nationwide. It received mixed to positive reviews from film critics. At Rotten Tomatoes
, a review aggregator
, it has a 60% "Fresh" overall approval out of 129 reviews from critics, while scoring a 65% "Fresh" rating out of 37 reviews from RottenTomatoes-designated "Top Critics". Metacritic
reported the film had an average score of 62 out of 100, indicating "generally favorable reviews" based on 29 reviews.
Bug was released on DVD
and Blu-ray
on September 25, 2007. It was also available on HD DVD
as a German exclusive.
,) and they called it a horror film," he said. The horror connection "came from a lot of sources." Friedkin claims that Bug is "in many ways, a black comedy
love story. He stated in an interview, that "It's not a genre film, but marketing works in mysterious ways. They have to find a genre for it. 'This is a comedy. This is a melodrama. This is a love story. This is a horror film. This is an adventure film.' Bug doesn't fit easily into any of those categories."
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
/thriller directed by William Friedkin
William Friedkin
William Friedkin is an American film director, producer and screenwriter best known for directing The French Connection in 1971 and The Exorcist in 1973; for the former, he won the Academy Award for Best Director...
, and starring Ashley Judd
Ashley Judd
Ashley Judd is an American television and film actress, who has played lead roles in films including Ruby in Paradise, Kiss the Girls, Double Jeopardy, Where the Heart Is and High Crimes...
, Michael Shannon
Michael Shannon (actor)
Michael Corbett Shannon is an American stage, film, and television actor. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Revolutionary Road...
and Harry Connick, Jr.
Harry Connick, Jr.
Joseph Harry Fowler Connick, Jr. is an American singer, big-band leader/conductor, pianist, actor, and composer. He has sold over 25 million albums worldwide. Connick is ranked among the top 60 best-selling male artists in the United States by the Recording Industry Association of America, with...
.
The film is based on the play of the same name
Bug (play)
Bug is a play by American playwright Tracy Letts. It was adapted into a film in 2006.- Synopsis :Most of the play takes place in a seedy motel room. Lonely cocktail waitress Agnes lives there, hiding from her violent ex-con ex-husband Jerry Goss. One night, her lesbian biker friend R.C. introduces...
written by Tracy Letts
Tracy Letts
Tracy Letts is an American playwright and actor who received the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play August: Osage County.-Biography:...
.
Plot
Agnes White (Judd) is a waitress living in a run-down motel in rural OklahomaOklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
. Unable to move on from the disappearance of her son some years previously, she engages in drug and alcohol binges with her lesbian friend, R.C. (Lynn Collins
Lynn Collins
Viola Lynn Collins , better known as Lynn Collins, is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Kayla Silverfox in the live-action film X-Men Origins: Wolverine.-Life and career:...
). Her abusive
Domestic violence
Domestic violence, also known as domestic abuse, spousal abuse, battering, family violence, and intimate partner violence , is broadly defined as a pattern of abusive behaviors by one or both partners in an intimate relationship such as marriage, dating, family, or cohabitation...
ex-husband, Jerry Goss (Connick), has recently been released from prison and she is receiving silent telephone calls which she suspects are from him. R.C. introduces Agnes to Peter Evans (Shannon), a drifter who says he is a recently discharged soldier. Agnes and Peter reach out to each other out of loneliness, and start a relationship.
The line between reality and delusion is blurred as they discover a bug infestation.
Peter is, in fact, mentally ill
Mental illness
A mental disorder or mental illness is a psychological or behavioral pattern generally associated with subjective distress or disability that occurs in an individual, and which is not a part of normal development or culture. Such a disorder may consist of a combination of affective, behavioural,...
, and believes he was the subject of biological tests by the U.S. government while he was in the military. He starts to draw Agnes into his delusions, persuading her that the silent telephone calls are the government trying to track him down and when he starts seeing bugs in the motel room, Agnes says that she can see them too. Jerry arrives at the motel and attempts to throw Peter out and restart his relationship with Agnes, but Peter persuades Agnes that Jerry is working for the government and she rejects him. Agnes also rejects R.C. when her friend tries to warn her away from Peter.
Peter comes to believe that a nest of bugs has been implanted under one of his teeth, so he pulls it out. He fills the room with flypaper and bug zappers and his movements become increasingly twitchy as he slaps at invisible bugs, as does Agnes.
A Dr. Sweet arrives, saying that Peter has escaped while under treatment at a mental institution, and tries to persuade him to return. Peter kills Sweet but tells Agnes that he was a robot sent by the government. Agnes is drawn ever deeper into Peter's delusions and creates her own delusion that her son had been taken from her by the government so that she and Peter could meet; she comes to believe that she has been implanted with a queen bug intended to mate with Peter's bugs and infest the world. To prevent this, Agnes and Peter douse themselves in gasoline and set themselves on fire.
During the credits, the spectator can see first the toys of Agnes's son, and the body of Sweet in a not burned house: a possible interpretation is that the suicide of the two mains characters by the fire was only a hallucination.
Cast
- Ashley JuddAshley JuddAshley Judd is an American television and film actress, who has played lead roles in films including Ruby in Paradise, Kiss the Girls, Double Jeopardy, Where the Heart Is and High Crimes...
as Agnes White - Michael ShannonMichael Shannon (actor)Michael Corbett Shannon is an American stage, film, and television actor. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Revolutionary Road...
as Peter Evans - Harry Connick, Jr.Harry Connick, Jr.Joseph Harry Fowler Connick, Jr. is an American singer, big-band leader/conductor, pianist, actor, and composer. He has sold over 25 million albums worldwide. Connick is ranked among the top 60 best-selling male artists in the United States by the Recording Industry Association of America, with...
as Jerry Goss - Lynn CollinsLynn CollinsViola Lynn Collins , better known as Lynn Collins, is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Kayla Silverfox in the live-action film X-Men Origins: Wolverine.-Life and career:...
as R. C. - Brian F. O'ByrneBrían F. O'ByrneBrían Francis O'Byrne is an Irish actor who works mostly in the United States. He was born in Mullagh, County Cavan.O'Byrne first attracted notice for his performances in the Martin McDonagh plays The Beauty Queen of Leenane as Pato Dooley and The Lonesome West...
as Dr. Sweet
Financing
The film was produced and financed by L.I.F.T. Production, Bug LLC, DMK Medienfonds and Lionsgate with a budget of $4 million.Settings
Its set design was done by Franco-Giacomo CarboneFranco-Giacomo Carbone
Franco-Giacomo Carbone is an American production designer.He began as a set and costume designer in New York. He has worked off Broadway for Lincoln Center Theater, La Mama and others. He graduated from the American Film Institute in 1998...
, the production designer of films such as Hostel (2005) and Rocky Balboa
Rocky Balboa (film)
Rocky Balboa is the sixth and final film in the Rocky franchise, directed by and starring Sylvester Stallone. The film, which was also written by Stallone who plays underdog boxer Rocky Balboa, is the sixth film in the Rocky series that began with the Academy Award-winning Rocky thirty years...
(2006).
Most of the film's action occurs in a seedy motel room. The scenario has three interconnected rooms — a bathroom, a kitchenette
Kitchenette
A kitchenette is a small cooking area.In motel and hotel rooms, small apartments, college dormitories, or office buildings a kitchenette usually consists of a small refrigerator, a microwave oven or hotplate, and, less frequently, a sink...
and a living room. At one point in the film, the room has several dozen fly strips
Flypaper
Flypaper is a fly-killing device made of paper coated with a sweetly fragrant, but extremely sticky or poisonous substance that traps flies and other flying insects when they land upon it.- Effectiveness :...
hanging from the ceiling. At another point the entire room is covered from floor to ceiling in tinfoil. Friedkin has said the tinfoil was a nightmare to work with, because it had to be repaired constantly, and because it reflected everybody who was there, including the crew.
Filming locations
Exteriors of the motel were filmed near MammothMammoth Mountain
Mammoth Mountain is a lava dome complex west of the town of Mammoth Lakes, California in the Inyo National Forest of Madera County and Mono County. It is home to a large ski area on the Mono County side....
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, and at Grace King High School
Grace King High School
Grace King High School is a public high school located in Metairie, unincorporated Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, United States. It is a part of the Jefferson Parish Public Schools....
while studio interiors of the motel room were filmed on a soundstage in Metairie
Metairie, Louisiana
Metairie is a census-designated place in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, United States and is a major part of the New Orleans Metropolitan Area. Metairie is the largest community in Jefferson Parish. It is an unincorporated area that would be larger than most of the state's cities if it were...
, Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
, near New Orleans. A grocery store scene was shot at Migliore’s Grocery, and the lesbian bar scene was shot at Boomerang’s Bar, both located in New Sarpy
New Sarpy, Louisiana
New Sarpy is a census-designated place in St. Charles Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 1,568 at the 2000 census.-Geography:New Sarpy is located at ....
, Louisiana.
Music
ScoreThe film was scored by Brian Tyler
Brian Tyler (composer)
Brian Tyler is an American composer, producer, conductor, and film producer most known for his scores of Eagle Eye, The Expendables, Battle: Los Angeles, The Final Destination, Rambo, Fast & Furious, Fast Five, and Final Destination 5. Tyler is a symphonic conductor and conducts his own scores....
and the musical direction/supervision is by Jay Faires
Jay Faires
Jay Faires Faires founded JFE in 2011, a TV oriented production company with a slant toward music and bold faced names. It is building commerce opportunities by mobilizing communities around engaging content. He currently sits on the board of the LA Chapter of the Recording Academy and the...
. The score was released as digital download on May 22, 2007.
Soundtrack
The film's theme song is performed by Serj Tankian
Serj Tankian
Serj Tankian is a Lebanese-born Armenian-American singer–songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist, playwright, record producer, poet, and political activist...
, the lead singer of the rock band
Rock Band
Rock Band is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games and Electronic Arts. It is the first title in the Rock Band series. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions were released in the United States on November 20, 2007, while the PlayStation 2 version was...
System of a Down
System of a Down
System of a Down, also known by the acronym SOAD and often shortened to System, is a rock band from Southern California. The band was formed in 1994. It consists of Serj Tankian , Daron Malakian , Shavo Odadjian and John Dolmayan...
. The lead track, "Learning to Drive
Learning to Drive
"Beautiful Day" is an alternative rock song written by Scott Weiland . The song is the first track on the soundtrack for the movie Bug. Bug is a psychological thriller, directed by William Friedkin , released on May 25, 2007.The single is a remake of a Stone Temple Pilots outtake called "Learning...
", is performed by Scott Weiland
Scott Weiland
Scott Weiland is an American musician, lyricist, and vocalist, most notable for his work with Grammy Award-winning rock band Stone Temple Pilots. Weiland is also known for his five-year career with supergroup Velvet Revolver as well as his own solo career...
, the lead singer of the rock band Stone Temple Pilots
Stone Temple Pilots
Stone Temple Pilots is an American rock band from San Diego, California that consists of Scott Weiland , brothers Robert DeLeo and Dean DeLeo , and Eric Kretz ....
.
Additional artists are Sean
Sean Watkins
Sean Charles Watkins is a guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. He is a member of the contemporary folk band Nickel Creek, the duo Fiction Family and the supergroup Works Progress Administration.-Nickel Creek:...
and Sara Watkins
Sara Watkins
Sara Ullrika Watkins is an American singer-songwriter and fiddler. Watkins debuted in 1989 as the fiddler of the progressive bluegrass group Nickel Creek, which consisted of herself, her elder brother Sean, and mandolinist Chris Thile. As a band, they are notable for three wide-released albums:...
(of Nickel Creek
Nickel Creek
Nickel Creek was an American progressive acoustic music trio consisting of Chris Thile , Sara Watkins and Sean Watkins . The band was founded in 1989 and released 6 albums between 1993 and 2006...
), Chainsaw Kittens
Chainsaw Kittens
The Chainsaw Kittens were a part of the American alternative rock scene, drawing from pop, glam rock, punk, new wave and British Invasion music. Their lyrics tackled such varied topics as religion, the Stonewall Riots, Federico Fellini, Oklahoma, Erik Menendez, and Oscar Wilde.Based in Norman,...
, The Backsliders
The Backsliders
The Backsliders was an alternative-traditional country-rock band composed of Chip Robinson, Steve Howell, Danny Kurtz, Jeff Dennis, and Brad Rice. Chip Robinson teamed up with Steve Howell to form The Backsliders, which began as a duo in 1991 in Athens, GA...
, Susan Tedeschi
Susan Tedeschi
Susan Tedeschi is an American blues and soul musician, who has received multiple Grammy Award nominations, and is well-known for her singing voice, guitar playing, stage presence, and marriage to blues guitarist Derek Trucks...
, Jerry Leiber, and The Coasters
The Coasters
The Coasters are an American rhythm and blues/rock and roll vocal group that had a string of hits in the late 1950s. Beginning with "Searchin'" and "Young Blood", their most memorable songs were written by the songwriting and producing team of Leiber and Stoller...
, Alvin Robinson, Los Tigres del Norte
Los Tigres del Norte
Los Tigres del Norte is a norteño-band ensemble based out of San Jose, California, hailing from Rosa Morada, Sinaloa, Mexico.- History :...
, Leon Russell
Leon Russell
Claude Russell Bridges , known professionally as Leon Russell, is an American musician and songwriter, who has recorded as a session musician, sideman, and maintained a solo career in music....
and Brian Tyler
Brian Tyler (composer)
Brian Tyler is an American composer, producer, conductor, and film producer most known for his scores of Eagle Eye, The Expendables, Battle: Los Angeles, The Final Destination, Rambo, Fast & Furious, Fast Five, and Final Destination 5. Tyler is a symphonic conductor and conducts his own scores....
.
The soundtrack was released in stores on May 22, 2007.
Releases and responses
The film is distributed by Lionsgate.It made its world premiere in May 2006 in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
in the Directors' Fortnight
Directors' Fortnight
Directors' Fortnight is an independent section held in parallel to the Cannes Film Festival. The section was created in 1969 after the events of May 1968, in which the Cannes festival was canceled in solidarity with striking workers....
section at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival
2006 Cannes Film Festival
The 2006 Cannes Film Festival ran from May 17, 2006 to May 28, 2006. Twenty films from eleven countries were in competition for the Palme d'Or. The President of the Official Jury was Wong Kar-wai, the first Chinese director to preside over the jury....
. On May 22, 2006, film critic Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
wrote, "The film has caused a stir at Cannes, not least because its stars, Ashley Judd and Michael Shannon, achieve a kind of manic intensity that’s frightening not just in itself but because you fear for the actors."
The film received its U.S. premiere at Fantastic Fest
Fantastic Fest
Fantastic Fest is an annual film festival in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 2005 by Tim League of Alamo Drafthouse, Harry Knowles of Ain't It Cool News, Paul Alvarado-Dykstra, and Tim McCanlies, writer of The Iron Giant and Secondhand Lions. The festival focuses on genre films such as horror,...
on September 25, 2006, in Austin
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
. It opened in the U.S. at 1,661 theaters on May 25, 2007. In its opening weekend it earned $3.24 million, and ranked as number four, of the most-seen films of the weekend, placed behind the threequels Pirates of the Caribbean 3, Shrek 3
Shrek the Third
Shrek the Third is a 2007 American animated film, and the third film in the Shrek series. It was produced by Jeffrey Katzenberg for DreamWorks Animation, and is distributed by Paramount Pictures. It was released in U.S. theaters on May 18, 2007...
and Spider-Man 3
Spider-Man 3
Spider-Man 3 is a 2007 American superhero film written and directed by Sam Raimi, with a screenplay by Ivan Raimi and Alvin Sargent. It is the third film in the Sam Raimi Spider-Man trilogy based on the fictional Marvel Comics character Spider-Man...
.
It was released to theaters in France on February 21, 2007. It drew praise from most critics in France, but did not reach the top in the box office. In its opening week in France, it ranked as number twenty of the most-visited films of the week, and earned $216,244 from sixty-six screens.
It received a very limited United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
release on November 9, 2007. The film received generally positive reviews from the U.K. media, receiving three out of five in The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
. It was also critic Mark Kermode
Mark Kermode
Mark Kermode is an English film critic, musician and a member of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. He contributes to Sight and Sound magazine, The Observer newspaper and BBC Radio 5 Live, where he presents Kermode and Mayo's Film Reviews with Simon Mayo on Friday afternoons...
's film of the week on BBC Radio 5 Live
BBC Radio 5 Live
BBC Radio 5 Live is the BBC's national radio service that specialises in live BBC News, phone-ins, and sports commentaries...
.
As of June 8, the film was in 331 theaters nationwide. It received mixed to positive reviews from film critics. At Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, a review aggregator
Review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services . This system stores the reviews and then uses them for purposes such as: creating a website for users to view the reviews, selling information to third parties about consumer tendencies and creating databases for...
, it has a 60% "Fresh" overall approval out of 129 reviews from critics, while scoring a 65% "Fresh" rating out of 37 reviews from RottenTomatoes-designated "Top Critics". Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
reported the film had an average score of 62 out of 100, indicating "generally favorable reviews" based on 29 reviews.
Bug was released on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
and Blu-ray
Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
on September 25, 2007. It was also available on HD DVD
HD DVD
HD DVD is a discontinued high-density optical disc format for storing data and high-definition video.Supported principally by Toshiba, HD DVD was envisioned to be the successor to the standard DVD format...
as a German exclusive.
Marketing
Friedkin has said that the film would have been flagged, in the 1960s or 1970s, as a horror film, but he insists it is no such thing. He told ComingSoon.net that "There were all sorts of people who looked at Bug, (including magazine people like FangoriaFangoria (magazine)
Fangoria is an internationally-distributed US film fan magazine specializing in the genres of horror, slasher, splatter and exploitation films, in regular publication since 1979.-Planning:...
,) and they called it a horror film," he said. The horror connection "came from a lot of sources." Friedkin claims that Bug is "in many ways, a black comedy
Black comedy
A black comedy, or dark comedy, is a comic work that employs black humor or gallows humor. The definition of black humor is problematic; it has been argued that it corresponds to the earlier concept of gallows humor; and that, as humor has been defined since Freud as a comedic act that anesthetizes...
love story. He stated in an interview, that "It's not a genre film, but marketing works in mysterious ways. They have to find a genre for it. 'This is a comedy. This is a melodrama. This is a love story. This is a horror film. This is an adventure film.' Bug doesn't fit easily into any of those categories."
Award
The film received an award at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival from the International Federation of Film Critics in the Director's Fortnight section.See also
- Delusional parasitosisDelusional parasitosisDelusional parasitosis is a form of psychosis whose victims acquire a strong delusional belief that they are infested with parasites, whereas in reality no such parasites are present...
- Folie à deuxFolie à deux-Further reading:*Halgin, R. & Whitbourne, S. Abnormal Psychology: Clinical Perspectives on Psychological Disorders. McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0072817216...
- Gulf War syndromeGulf War syndromeGulf War syndrome or Gulf War illness describes a medical condition that affected veterans and civilians who were near conflicts during or downwind of chemical weapons depot demolition, after the 1991 Gulf War. A wide range of acute and chronic symptoms have included fatigue, musculoskeletal...
- Morgellons disease
- ParanoiaParanoiaParanoia [] is a thought process believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of irrationality and delusion. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of conspiracy concerning a perceived threat towards oneself...